As I mentioned on my previous video post, October was declared as indigenous people's month in the Philippines. In the Cordillera region, one of the activities in celebration of the same is the Gong Festival in Baguio City. Since Baguio City is in the Cordillera region, I was expecting to see presentations only from the same region. To my surprise, the emcee announced that the next group to perform is from Mindanao, Maranao part to be exact.
"Wow, from north to south!" I thought.
For those who are not familiar of Philippine geography, Cordillera is in the northern part of the country while Mindanao is in the south.
When the emcee announced that a group from Mindanao will perform, I wondered if we had visitors especially for this occassion. The group paraded infront of us audience as they circled the dance floor. As their banner holders approached, I read their tarpaulin:
MARANAO KALILANG GROUP
OF MALCOLM SQUARE BARANGAY
That was when I realized, no, we do not have especial visitors. We actually have people from Mindanao who are now residents of the city.
After their parade, every one took their respective spot. A few took care of their gongs and drums. The beat of their gongs and drums sounded a little mellow than the beat that I am used to with the Cordillerans which is fast.
I thought that was all of them but after few minutes the audience to my right started cheering. I looked and was surprised by all ladies in their bright yellow dresses and holding fans. That was cool!
The ladies were dancing while entering the dance floor. With their mellow beat, I was shifting my expectation until a few minutes later when they formed a circle and joined the fans that they were holding. Their hands did the dancing this time and the fans followed in perfect waves. The audience cheered. Oh, they saved the best for last!
The view of their formation could have been perfect from aerial perspective. Now this is another frustrarion reminder for me of when I will have a drone. I've been rooting for it for a long time already. For now, I'll settle with my phone camera.
The video version of the photos to follow through 3speak.